Composer (software)

Composer is an application-level package manager for the PHP programming language that provides a standard format for managing dependencies of PHP software and required libraries. It was developed by Nils Adermann and Jordi Boggiano, who continue to manage the project. They began development in April 2011 and first released it on March 1, 2012.[1] Composer is strongly inspired by Node.js's "npm" and Ruby's "bundler".[3] The project's dependency solving algorithm started out as a PHP-based port of openSUSE's libzypp satsolver.[4]

Composer
Developer(s)Nils Adermann,
Jordi Boggiano
Initial releaseMarch 1, 2012 (2012-03-01)[1]
Stable release
1.10.7 / June 3, 2020 (2020-06-03)[2]
Repository
Written inPHP
Operating systemCross-platform
TypePackage manager
LicenseMIT License
Websitegetcomposer.org

Composer runs from the command line and installs dependencies (e.g. libraries) for an application. It also allows users to install PHP applications that are available on "Packagist"[5] which is its main repository containing available packages. It also provides autoload capabilities for libraries that specify autoload information to ease usage of third-party code.

Syntax

Commands

Composer offers several parameters including :[6]

  • require: add the library in parameter to the file composer.json, and install it.
  • install: install all libraries from composer.json. It's the command to use to download all PHP repository dependencies.
  • update: update all libraries from composer.json, according to the allowed versions mentioned into it.
  • remove: uninstall a library and remove it from composer.json.

Libraries definition

Example of composer.json generated by the following command:

composer require monolog/monolog
{
    "require": {
        "monolog/monolog": "1.2.*"
    }
}

Versions

The different authorized versions of the libraries are defined by:[7]

SymbolRole (placed before a version number)Example
>=allows to extend the number. Moreover, we can use: >, <, <=."php": ">=5.5.9" includes PHP 7.
!=excludes a version.
-defines a range of versions.
¦¦add possibles versions."symfony/symfony": "2.8 ¦¦ 3.0" regroups only these two versions.
*extends to all subversions."symfony/symfony": "3.1.*" includes the 3.1.1.
~extends to the next versions of the same level."doctrine/orm": "~2.5" also concerns the 2.6, but neither the 2.4 nor the 3.0.
^same as tilde, only if there is a backward compatibility.

Supported frameworks
gollark: Yeees, probably.
gollark: What do you mean `how many reds do you need for 7 eggs?`?
gollark: Also, hi.
gollark: Hmm... two reds... probably not worth it for a CB xeno, unless values dropped.
gollark: AEONS DO THAT.

See also

References
  1. Software release, github.com, Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  2. "Composer". getcomposer.org. Retrieved Jun 24, 2020.
  3. Getting Started/Dependency management, getcomposer.org, Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  4. "composer/composer". Jun 23, 2020. Retrieved Jun 24, 2020 – via GitHub.
  5. See packagist.org
  6. "Command-line interface / Commands". getcomposer.org.
  7. "Versions and constraints - Composer". getcomposer.org.
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